Gazprom-Media Holding’s radio stations Avtoradio, Radio Romantika and Detskoe Radio have put together special projects for its listeners to celebrate Victory Day and unite Russians on this anniversary, not only on the radio waves but also on social networks. Radio listeners will have the opportunity to talk about their family heroes on the radio programs, as well as to hear acoustic performances of famous wartime songs by contemporary Russian singers. Moreover, on May 9, Avtoradio listeners will be able to get in touch with the radio station hosts with the help of video calls and sing their favourite wartime songs with them.
Avtoradio
The radio station has launched several special projects in honour of the 75th anniversary of Victory Day. Up until May 10 the station will play wartime songs several times an hour as part of its musical project #PoyDoma. The uniqueness of this project is that the songs are performed by show business stars at home.
Poems about the war will also be heard on Avtoradio during the holiday. Famous works by Aleksandr Tvardovsky, Bulat Okudzhava, Konstantin Simonov and Nahum Korzhavin will be read by famous film and stage actors Mikhail Efremov, Konstantin Khabensky, Ekaterina Guseva, Sergey Bezrukov and many others.
The project “Pisma s Fronta” (Letters from the Front) will talk about people who went through the Great Patriotic War and won in the battle against the enemy. These letters are kept with great care in each family and are passed down from generation to generation. This anniversary year, the words in these letters will be heard by millions of people across the country. Avtoradio’s listeners got the opportunity to share the contents of the letters from the front on the radio waves. To participate, they needed to upload a photograph, scan or text of the letter to the radio station’s website.
The radio station will hold its main event on May 9. From 11:00 to 14:00 Avtoradio will hold a holiday marathon called “Pesni Pobedy. Strana Poet!” (Songs of Victory. The Country Sings!) with the hosts of the popular radio show Murzilki Live reaching out to all the Russian regions.
For radio listeners in St. Petersburg the station launched a special campaign “Ulitsy Pobedy. Peterburg Pomnit” (The Streets of Victory. Petersburg Remembers). As part of this campaign, people will be able to take a virtual excursion into the past and find out which heroes the St. Petersburg streets are named after. Avtoradio will air stories about people who served the country during World War II, defended and ultimately liberated Leningrad.
Radio Romantika
On April 23 the station launched the campaign “Pamyat Pokolenii” (Memory of Generations), dedicated to the 75th anniversary of Victory Day. Every Russian has relatives who witnessed the war years, made history and did heroic deeds to achieve peace. In this anniversary year, Radio Romantika invites its listeners to share stories and photographs of their relatives. They can be sent through a special form on the radio station’s website. These stories about soldiers, veterans of the home front, children of the war - in short, all those who survived this harsh time and gave us the opportunity to live - are already available to read on the radio station’s website. The most interesting stories are also read on air.
Until May 10, Radio Romantika is also releasing a special cycle called “Zhenshiny i Goroda Geroi” (Women and Hero Cities) - stories about the feats of brave women who came to the defense of their Motherland alongside the men. Another special project that the station launched for the Victory Day anniversary, “Istorii Lubvi Voennyh Let” (War Love Stories), talks about fateful meetings and tender feelings that the war was powerless to stop.
Detskoe Radio
Detskoe Radio launched the online marathon #YapomnuYagorzhus (#IrememberIamproud), timed to the 75th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War. Young listeners from across the country, as well as their parents and family members, who have their own heroes of the Great Patriotic War, are invited to take part in the marathon. To participate listeners need to share on their Instagram account the stories and photographs of relatives and loved ones who fought at the front during the war, supported the war effort on the home front or survived the harsh years of the war as children. The photographs and stories should be posted with the hashtag #YapomnuYagorzhus2020, and the Instagram account must be open to the public. These publications will then be re-posted on the Detskoe Radio website, while the most heartfelt stories, recorded by the authors themselves, will sound on the radio waves on May 9.